Paul Celans 'Zähle die Mandeln' a critical commentary

Essay aus dem Jahr 2001 im Fachbereich Germanistik - Komparatistik Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft Note: 75 (entspricht eins) University of Canterbury (School of European Culture and Languages) Veranstaltung: Seminar Sprache: Deutsch Abstract: The poem ?Zähle die Mandeln? (?Count the almonds?) comes last in Paul Celan?s first official publication Mohn und Gedächtnis. Published in 1952 the collection is divided into four parts Der Sand aus den Urnen the single poem ?Todesfuge? (?Death Fugue?) Gegenlicht and Halme der Nacht. It is my favourite collection of poems by one of my favourite authors. My choice of poem is not necessarily a conscious decision against all other 55 in this collection although I did indeed decide against the ?Death Fugue? as this - Celan?s most famous poem - has already been discussed so many times over that I felt there was not much room for my own ideas left. Otherwise my choice was non-academic. I have selected ?Zähle die Mandeln? simply because I was fascinated by its language and images.